


a million lies to sell yourself

by esctrl



Category: Manhunt (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Mentions of Psychological Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:54:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26966257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esctrl/pseuds/esctrl
Relationships: James Earl Cash/Journalist
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	a million lies to sell yourself

In the end, she came back for him. Even she wasn’t sure why. 

She gets to him before the police can, which is a feat considering how quick their response time would be given the circumstances. Outside of Starkweather’s estate, he gets into the passenger’s seat of her car, and they drive off - narrowly missing the swarm of police with only seconds to spare.

“I thought I told you to leave town,” Cash says, and she can feel his eyes on her - watching her from the passenger’s seat. She stares straight ahead, both hands gripping tightly at the steering wheel.

“You did,” She says.

“ _ You _ didn’t,” His voice is rough and haggard, much more so than the last few times she’d heard it.

And it’s not like she heard it very often.

She wants to tell him about the report, the final report that exposed Starkweather. Announcing his death to the entirety of Carcer City caused by an unknown assailant. 

As far as Carcer City knew, James Earl Cash was as dead as Starkweather was. A favor paid off in exchange for evidence.

She’d seen him die, and here he was, back in the passenger’s seat of her Blista Compact once again. 

“I am now,” She tells him instead, glancing over at him, meeting his gaze, then turning her attention back to the road. He’s leaned down in the seat, over towards her side, probably still paranoid that the wrong person will look in the window and recognize him. But, the way he’s clutching at his side, favoring it, she guesses that he’s injured.

The man fought through hell and back -Starkweather’s fucked up circus of murder, to get here. Guess it’s only fair he earned a few battle scars of his own.

“ _ We _ are,” she corrects herself, and she doesn’t have to glance over at him again to know he’s still watching her.

They pass the sign announcing the city limits of Carcer City, and for once in the past couple of days, she feels like she can breathe. 

  * -



Their safehouse is located in Liberty City: Absolute Hell on Earth. She’d called up one of her friends from a phonebooth and asked if she could stay while they were out of town, what she didn’t mention was the reason she needed to get out of town, and part of that reason would be tagging along with her.

She parks the car, grabs her bag, and Cash follows her up into the lobby of the apartment building and up the two flights of stairs it takes to get to their apartment. All lumbering fashion is he, wearing the same old clothes he’d died in and he smells of sweat and blood. His clothes are caked with it too - the blood, dried now so it just leaves behind this dark red brownish stain.

She doesn’t even want to ask whose it is.

She unlocks the door, he stands idly by, glancing around. 

_ Deja vu, huh? _

And he follows her inside the empty, dark apartment, completely silent. She half-expects someone to jump out at them. Another crooked cop or another one of Starkweather’s extras with a lust for blood.

But, no one does. And she’s still tense.

The city lights faltering in through one of the curtained windows provides her with enough light so she can cross the room, turning on one of the floor lamps, and the worn-down studio apartment with exposed brick walls and chipped wood floors is bathed in a warm hue.

Cash squints against the light, until his eyes adjust and he’s taking in the surroundings.

She drops her bag into one of the armchairs and sits down next to it, and sighs. Cash still lingers near the doorway.

“Home sweet home,” She says, more to herself than to him, and she could almost laugh at the irony in her tone. 

What’s even more ironic is that - something about Cash’s presence makes her feel safe. When she’s not thinking about the countless lives he’s taken, or the gruesome ways in which he’s done so. 

Safe against the crooked cops, safe against all Starkweather’s extras, safe against Schaffer.

Safe against the entirety of Carcer City.

Of course, they’re not far away enough, now. But, with time, perhaps, Carcer City, Liberty City, and everything they’ve encountered could be put behind them as best as it can be. 


End file.
